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It turns out that not everyone is happy with those new domain choices. In particular, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) is upset with Amazon over the fact that the online retailer and e-book giant applied for the .book domain name.

In a letter (PDF) last week to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that manages domain names, AAP argues that the interests of “authors, publishers, sellers, libraries, literary agents, educations, editors,” and many others may be harmed if Amazon is allowed to go forward with its application.

The AAP says Amazon’s gTLD application states that “.book will be a single entity registry, with all domains registered to Amazon for use in pursuit of Amazon’s business goals.” The application was specifically filed by the company’s European branch, which is legally based in Luxembourg.

“From inception, the introduction of new gTLDs has been promoted as a means to increase competition, add consumer choice, support internet freedom, expand market differentiation and diversify service providers,” Allan Adler, general counsel at the AAP, said in a statement. “How would handing over ownership of a domain string to any one single private company, such as a retailer, for its own business goals support that public service mission?”

However, it is a bit curious that the AAP waited nine months to file its complaint. The complaint was also filed after the new gTLD Comment Period closed.

Our comments filed with ICANN were in opposition to all closed gTLDs. We believe that ICANN defeats its stated public service goals if it grants such exclusivity to a single organization, particularly one that acknowledges its desire to exploit a domain name solely for its own business purposes. In case you didn’t see our release and our full comments, [they're here.] Based on our involvement in the vast book community (including authors, libraries, educators, publishers, readers, book clubs, book sellers, bloggers and other stakeholders), the Amazon example, with its attempt to own .book, was the most appropriate example for us to use in our comments.

Note that we do not oppose those applying for open gTLDs and there are several such applicants in the .book area. That’s why they aren’t named in our comments.

As to the timing, I believe there were two windows for comments and we were part of the second window.

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Cyrus Farivar
Cyrus is a Senior Tech Policy Reporter at Ars Technica, and is also a radio producer and author. His latest book, Habeas Data, about the legal cases over the last 50 years that have had an outsized impact on surveillance and privacy law in America, is out now from Melville House. He is based in Oakland, California. Emailcyrus.farivar@arstechnica.com//Twitter@cfarivar